This 'Star Trek' parody goes where Seth MacFarlane has never gone before

The premise is really quite simple: What if "Star Trek" was filmed as a comedy?

That's the basis for a new TV show coming to Fox this fall. The broadcast network revealed footage from the show at an event in New York on Monday. The show is set 400 years in the future and follows the adventures and humorous exploits of The Orville, a mid-level exploratory spaceship. It's crew – made up of both humans and aliens – travel through space, all the while dealing with the familiar problems of everyday life. (Because office politics, even in a ship traveling at warp speed, is still just office politics.)

You can see the trailer below, which has already been viewed more than a quarter million times on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9sKeCE8V0

The science fiction series features a diverse array of actors from around the world including America (Adrianne Palicki), the Philippines (Christine Corpuz) and Canada (Norm MacDonald). In the pilot episode, Israeli character actor Brian George – best known to TV audiences as the restaurant owner Babu Bhatt from "Seinfeld" – seeks the assistance from the rag-tag team of The Orville.

The show stars Seth MacFarlane, the brainchild behind such hit TV shows as "Family Guy" and "American Dad" as well as the movie "Ted" and its sequel. "The Orville" will be the first live-action TV series created by MacFarlane, as well as his first live-action starring role on television. (He voices several of the characters on his animated shows.) With such a comedic pedigree, the show is already one of the most anticipated of the fall season.

“I've wanted to do something like this show ever since I was a kid, and the timing finally feels right," said the 43-year-old MacFarlane, a Connecticut native. "I think this is gonna be something special."

The Fox executives agree. “For almost two decades, we've enjoyed an incredible collaboration with our partner and friend Seth MacFarlane," the network's Dana Walden and Gary Newman explained in a joint statement. "He's one of the smartest, funniest and most talented people we've ever had the pleasure of working with – a great guy who's also had such an impact on both television and popular culture. Seth has one of the most original voices – in every sense of the word – and we've been waiting for him to bring us a project as special as this one."